California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of November 15, 2013
Doctors Medical Center, San Pablo
On Tuesday, the West Contra Costa Healthcare District Board of Directors unanimously declared a fiscal emergency at Doctors Medical Center, the Contra Costa Times reports.
The move came after the facility's CEO Dawn Gideon in a presentation before the board said the hospital has lost $1.5 million per month for the last two years and now faces a $19 million deficit in the 2013 budget. She said the hospital would see no short-term service interruptions, but cautioned that the hospital would be unable to operate beyond May 2014 without additional funding.
Gideon said the facility needs $15 million in "bridge funding," which could come from other regional medical centers that would be affected by the hospital's potential closure (Rogers, Contra Costa Times, 11/12).
John Muir Health
John Muir Health's medical foundation has added 11 cardiologists to its network of 963 independent and foundation-associated physicians, the San Francisco Business Times' "Bay Area BizTalk" reports.
The new members -- who represent the first heart specialists to join the group -- include eight physicians at Cor Cardiovascular Specialists in Walnut Creek, two physicians from Arrhythmia Specialists in Concord and one physician based in Brentwood (Rauber, "Bay Area BizTalk," San Francisco Business Times, 11/12).
Riverside Community Hospital
Last week, HHS' Workplace Partnership for Life Hospital Campaign awarded Riverside Community Hospital gold-level recognition for its organ donation outreach efforts, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
Riverside Community Hospital was the only facility in California to receive gold recognition.
The hospital increased the number of potential donors on the state's donor registry in part by conducting awareness and registry campaigns targeting staff, patients, visitors and community members (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 11/8).
San Francisco General Hospital
On Nov. 6, the San Francisco Sheriff's Department reassigned several employees following an investigation of a missing patient at San Francisco General Hospital who later was found dead, the AP/San Jose Mercury News reports (AP/San Jose Mercury News, 11/9).
The patient -- a 57-year-old woman -- was admitted to the hospital on Sept. 19 with an infection and was found to be missing from her hospital room on Sept. 21. On Oct. 8, a member of the hospital's engineering staff found the woman's body in a hospital stairwell used as a fire escape (California Healthline, 11/8).
Mark Nicco, attorney for the sheriff's department, said last week that a sheriff's sergeant, two senior deputies and a civilian sheriff's dispatcher had been reassigned, while seven deputies and institutional officers had been transferred to the hospital's security detail. Nicco added that transfers are not considered disciplinary, and that no employees were notified of any misconduct charges.
Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said he also would assign a new commander to the hospital's security detail and order daily checks on upgrades to implement fire door alarms on fire exit stairwells (AP/San Jose Mercury News, 11/9).
Sutter Davis Hospital
On Wednesday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker announced that Sutter Davis Hospital was one of three U.S. organizations to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the Sacramento Bee reports (Glover, Sacramento Bee, 11/13).
According to Modern Healthcare, the award aims to recognize institutions for excellence in leadership, quality improvement and innovation in consumer satisfaction, strategy, workforce and operations (Selvam, Modern Healthcare, 11/13).
Veterans Administration Loma Linda Healthcare System
The VA Loma Linda Healthcare System has awarded Chicago-based Walsh Construction a $19.3 million contract to build a 271,000 square-foot ambulatory care center, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. Under the contract, Walsh Construction will own the building and have a 20-year guaranteed lease agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
VA Loma Linda Healthcare System Director Barbara Fallen said the center will handle primary care, dental care, physical medicine and rehabilitation (De Atley, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 11/8).
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